The cat who cried all night and the only boy who cared (very short story)

Photo by Chaiyaporn Atakampeewong on Unsplash

I was trying to finish up some homework. It was late at night. Everyone in my house was sleeping, which is exactly the way I liked it. Peace and quiet. Living with 7 brothers and sisters is no joke. There is not even a moment of silence in the house, except when all of them are sleeping. Thankfully, I’m old enough, actually I am the oldest, that I can stay awake late, and get up late. The only thing I have to be careful of is to get to my classes on time, and that’s never an issue, ever since I learned how to ride a motorbike.

I sat there on my desk in my room — it was the tiny room in the attic, but it was my own. I had to beg and beg my parents to give me my own room. It is rather embarrassing that at 16, I still have to share a room with my siblings. Enough was enough, and so I am here, in a little cul-de-sac, not big enough to fit a bed, so I sleep on a pile of blankets on the ground, and listen to the rain tap-tap-tapping away on the corrugated roof all night long.

But it was better than hearing your little brother cry in his sleep every night, or fight in his sleep, or yell out loud about candy all night long. It was rather distressing, and not at all conducive to a good night’s sleep.

I sat there, happily listening to the silence of the night. Nothing going on. Nothing to disturb the peace. I felt so luxurious right now. I stretched out my body and thanked the universe for giving me this space, time, and silence right now.

As is the case with Murphy’s law, it was at that exact moment that the cat started crying. It wasn’t our cat, because she was fast asleep on the ground next to me. It wasn’t the neighbour’s cat, because she had been killed in a car accident last week. So it must have been a random stray that had popped up out of nowhere to remind me that silence is golden, but it is very limited in the Anderson’s residence.

I switched off my light, and tiptoed to the tiny window to look outside. I wondered if I would be able to spot her sitting outside. Cats usually had such effervescent eyes that they literally shone in the dark. But even though, I could hear the cat miaowing sorrowfully quite loudly, I couldn’t see where she could be.

I went online quickly and researched why a cat would be crying so piteously in the night. Was there some particular reason for it? Or was she looking for a mate? If she was looking for a mate, I wouldn’t be able to help out. My own cat had been castrated a long time ago. But if she was looking for food, or something else, I would be able to help out.

The search online revealed that the cat was either lonely, in pain, hurt, or hungry. That’s some of the reasons why cats cry out at night. I wanted to put in earplugs and ignore the miaowing, but I couldn’t be so heartless.

“Alright fine, let’s go out and explore what’s going on, shall we?” My own cat was awake at this point and looking at me curiously. Could she not hear the miaowing? It was getting horrendously loud at this point, and I was afraid it would wake up the entire household. I put on a jacket, and some socks, and walked out of my door, as carefully as possible. The hinges of the door were a bit squeaky, but if you opened the door right, they were quiet enough.

Walking down the creaky stairs was another story altogether. Oh well, I would just have to slide down the banister, even though, I had been told a million times by my father that it was dangerous. Slid down, no problem, and landed softly on the carpet below.

I grabbed a flashlight from the cupboard by the front door, and then slipped out as quietly as I could.

The good thing about being the eldest of 8 siblings is that mostly my parents are way too busy taking care of and worrying about the younger ones to have the time or energy to worry about me. Mostly they left me to my own devices, and trusted that
I would be fine, which was an arrangement that suited me just fine.

I crept outside, waiting for the mewling to start up again. Where are you, little kitty? Why are you crying? If you are hungry, I have some cat treats in my pocket for you.

Surprisingly, my cat who was always on the lookout for other cats to fight or to smell, was uninterested by the presence of this other cat. Could he not smell her/him? That was quite unusual.

I prodded my cat with the tip of my shoe and said, “Find the cat, Keena. Find her right now. I need to go back to sleep, but I can’t if she’s crying like that.”

My cat looked at me, unimpressed as always, and started walking away from me. I followed her.

That’s when I heard the crying cat again. But in the opposite direction to where we were going. “Damn it Keena, you are absolutely useless yet again.” I whispered. Keena, unconcerned as ever at my censure, kept on walking in the direction that suited her.

I turned around, and walked towards the mewling cat. I jingled the treats in my pocket, perhaps to entice her or let her know I am here for her.

A few seconds later, I spotted her in a distance, sitting on the ground, still crying as loudly as ever.

I stepped closer to her, but she didn’t seem scared by me. I got as close as arm’s length and then kneeled down on the cold, hard ground. I pulled out some treats from my pocket, and pushed them towards her.

She wasn’t hungry. She kept on crying, and not paying attention to me.

My cat, Keena, came by as she had smelt the treats, and brushed up against my hand, so I would give her the treats.

“Keena, see you have a friend there. Another kitty just like you.” Keena looked up at me, and then as if she didn’t see the other cat at all, walked away, upset that I wouldn’t let her have any treats. “Don’t you see her Keena?” I said, picking up Keena, and shoving her close to the other cat. Again, nothing.

I let go of Keena, and then sat down on my haunches, deep in thought.

Why is Keena being like this? Usually, a new cat in the neighbourhood, and she goes crazy over them. But..

I looked closer at the cat who had stopped crying now and was looking at me intently.

“Are you… are you the cat… you look… you look like my neighbour’s cat who died last week? But… you can’t be.”

The markings on this cat were really similar to Tai, the cat who had died last week. She was orange with black stripes on her, exactly like this crying cat. I tried to get closer to this strange cat, and pet her.

But I couldn’t. It was as if there was some kind of force field or something that prevented me from touching her.

I was confused.

I fed Keena some treats as she was getting antsy and angry at me. But I was distracted.

Tai had been my best friend’s cat. Joey was upset, extremely upset that his cat had been killed in such a senseless accident. He kept on saying to me, “I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Is that why Tai’s back? To say goodbye to Joey?

I plunged my hand into my other jacket pocket, and pulled out my phone.

“Joey, come out to the tree by our front yard. Right now. It’s urgent.”

“I’m sleeping! What is the damn emergency at this time of night? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“You are not sleeping. You are playing that damn game. Stop playing for a second, and come out.”

“Alright, alright. Coming. Give me two minutes.”

He had hastily pulled on some pants and a jacket, but he was still in flipflops and had no toque on. He looked disheveled but in a way that only high-end male models could manage. That was Joey’s superpower — to look smashing no matter what the circumstance.

When Tai or Tai’s ghost, I should say, saw Joey appear, she went berserk. She started wailing even louder, and running around in circles. Okay, I thought, this is getting interesting.

Joey came up to stand beside me and said, “What the hell is the matter now? I was almost about to go into battle. It’s an important one, too. It’s to avenge the death of Tai.”

“Joey.. You are probably going to think I am crazy…”

“Don’t worry, I already do think you are crazy.”

“Great! Thanks for that.” I muttered. “But seriously, this will sound insane, but I think…”

That’s when Joey’s eyes went big in his face, and he stared at Tai sitting there under the tree.

He ran to her, and picked her up, tears dropping from his eyes the whole time. “Tai, my darling, my darling. Where have you been? Why did you leave me?”

He sat down on the ground, the cold, hard ground, with his cat in his arms, and rocked her gently for a few minutes.

I sat down on my haunches, and watched the reunion.

When Joey stopped crying, and seemed calmer, I said to him, “Joey, I don’t think it’s really Tai. I think it’s just her ghost. I think… she just came to say goodbye to you.”

He looked up at me, his eyes still wet from earlier. “Tai’s ghost? But I can touch her, and pick her up? How can it be her ghost?”

I demonstrated. I tried to touch Tai, and he saw that I couldn’t. It wasn’t like the movies where my hands went through her, but it was like there was a barrier that couldn’t be crossed when I tried to touch her.

“Even Keena can’t see Tai. And you know how close they were. Look at Keena now. She’s just sitting there, as if there isn’t another cat around.” I pointed at Keena who was licking her belly and cleaning herself.

“But… I…”

“Remember how you were saying that you didn’t get to say goodbye? Perhaps, Tai heard you and is back to say her goodbye?”

Joey looked at me, and I looked at him, and I know that I broke his heart. But I didn’t want him to believe that Tai was back for good. I had buried her body myself with him. It was completely battered from the ravages of that car accident. She was definitely dead.

For the next two hours, I sat there, and watched while Joey told Tai all of these wonderful stories about cat heaven, and how Joey would one day join her there, and not to worry about him, and to go and have fun with all the other cat ghosts, and so on.

Finally, it was almost dawn. I could see that the sun was going to be peeking up soon. It was always darkest before dawn, they say.

And apparently, this was when cat ghosts leave their owners who they have come to say goodbye to.

Joey hugged Tai even tighter, and as the first light of dawn came up over the horizon, Tai disappeared.

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